Police and transit security presence at Broadway Skytrain Station in Vancouver, November 5, 2012. The increased security follows an incident where a pipe bomb was found on the tracks in Surrey last week.Nick Procaylo
/ PNG

The bomb squad was called in and commuters on the eastbound Skytrain were shuttled to buses after an explosive device was found on the tracks at the Scott Road Skytrain Station in Surrey on Friday, November 2, 2012.Les Bazso
/ PNG

Anne Drennan, spokeswoman for Transit police speaks to the media at the Vancouver Stadium — Chinatown SkyTrain station about the recent discovery of a makeshift bomb on the tracks between Scott Road and Gateway stations in Surrey.Ric Ernst
/ PNG

Anne Drennan, spokeswoman for Transit police said Sunday there are still no suspects in the recent discovery of a makeshift bomb on the SkyTrain tracks between Scott Road and Gateway stations in Surrey.Ric Ernst
/ PNG

The bomb squad was called in and commuters on the eastbound Skytrain were shuttled to buses after an explosive device was found on the tracks at the Scott Road Skytrain Station in Surrey on Friday, November 2, 2012.Les Bazso
/ PNG

The bomb squad was called in and commuters on the eastbound Skytrain were shuttled to buses after an explosive device was found on the tracks at the Scott Road Skytrain Station in Surrey on Friday, November 2, 2012.Les Bazso
/ PNG

The bomb squad was called in and commuters on the eastbound Skytrain were shuttled to buses after an explosive device was found on the tracks at the Scott Road Skytrain Station in Surrey on Friday, November 2, 2012.Les Bazso
/ PNG

Police and transit security presence at Broadway Skytrain Station in Vancouver, November 5, 2012. The increased security follows an incident where a pipe bomb was found on the tracks in Surrey last week.Nick Procaylo
/ PNG

Police and transit security presence at Broadway Skytrain Station in Vancouver, November 5, 2012. The increased security follows an incident where a pipe bomb was found on the tracks in Surrey last week.Nick Procaylo
/ PNG

Police and transit security presence at Broadway Skytrain Station in Vancouver, November 5, 2012. The increased security follows an incident where a pipe bomb was found on the tracks in Surrey last week.Nick Procaylo
/ PNG

Police and transit security presence at Broadway Skytrain Station in Vancouver, November 5, 2012. The increased security follows an incident where a pipe bomb was found on the tracks in Surrey last week.Nick Procaylo
/ PNG

On Monday, officers with TransLink launched an up-close-and-personal strategy first fashioned by the New York police department to sweep for explosives, deter anti-social behaviour and make themselves more accessible to passengers after Friday’s bomb scares.

Beginning this week, Train Order Maintenance Sweeps (TOMS) will see Transit police at Canada Line and SkyTrain stations around Metro Vancouver stepping aboard each train that comes through, briefly scanning the car and then stepping back off.

“It’s a very simple approach, but very effective,” said Transit police spokeswoman Anne Drennan. “One, it gives our officers the ability to assess the situation, and two, it gives people reassurance that we are in fact there if we need them and safety is our priority.”

The NYPD implemented TOMS as an anti-terrorism measure in response to the Sept. 11 attacks. It involved bag searches on subway cars to detect explosive materials but soon grew beyond its original purpose, serving to deter illegal acts and establish easier communication between riders and police, Drennan said.

Terrorism has been ruled out as a factor in the placement of a makeshift bomb along the SkyTrain tracks in Surrey last week, Drennan said. “However, TOMS is an approach that can deal with pretty much anything and everything that could happen on a train: assault, drunkenness, people stealing phones or even something just making passengers uncomfortable.”

Transit police officers will be at nearly all 47 stations at some point each day for the first half of this week, Drennan said. The sweeps will continue less frequently as the year continues and into 2013.

David Eby, executive director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, had no major qualms with the initiative, saying it appears in line with the Transit police mandate to patrol platforms and trains.

“I don’t have any great concerns off the bat. Obviously we’ll keep our ear to the ground and if people have any concerns going forward we’ll respond to them,” Eby said.

Although he said he was wary of the possibility of profiling: “One of the issues that they’ve had in New York with their stop-and-frisk initiative is the targeting of visible minorities for searches and detentions. But we have no reason to believe that this is happening currently in terms of Transit police activities.”

Gordon Price, director of the City Program at Simon Fraser University, stressed a visibly stronger security presence could have a psychological impact.

“People would say it’s for show. I’m a big fan of show. I think a big part of what they call security theatre is just having people present on the ground and being seen.

“I think there’s a danger of too much of this excessive security theatre. God knows we see that at airports,” Price said. “But just in an ongoing way, you give people comfort and allow them to participate.”

Richard Walton, chairman of the Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation, agreed the police presence will help alleviate any concerns passengers may have. He noted it was a passenger that alerted police to a potentially deadly makeshift bomb on the Expo Line between Scott Road and Gateway stations last Friday, which led to more attendants and transit personnel at SkyTrain stations and bus loops this week.

Later, a station attendant at Metrotown Station in Burnaby raised an alarm over a piece of drainage pipe, which turned out to be harmless. Both caused hours-long transit delays.

A purse on the Main Street Station tracks Sunday also aroused suspicion and caused a half-hour station shutdown while Transit police examined the accessory.

“The more of us who take on that collective responsibility the more effective policing will be,” Walton said, adding the increased security presence will also allow passengers to express any concerns. However, he added, “there’s a cost to that kind of policing” and it will be up to TransLink to determine where the resources should go.

On Friday, the explosive device itself — three empty tanks strapped to a small red canister with a tangle of straps and wires — was blown up for safety reasons.

Investigators have not revealed what kind of explosive material was used in the bomb, as they are still conducting forensic tests.

There are no suspects at this point in what was the first explosive device ever found on TransLink property, Drennan said.

She said sensors installed on the guideways beside the rails did not detect the nearby bomb. Guideways, built to seismic standards in the 1990s and made of reinforced concrete and steel, would have mitigated the effect of the blast had the bomb gone off, she said.

“They’re built to withstand a lot of trauma, so the estimation by the bomb techs was that it wouldn’t have brought down the guideway, and that there wouldn’t have been debris from the guideway that would have fallen down below.”

Nonetheless, the track would have been significantly damaged, as would a train car moving past, she added.

The specific degree of damage to infrastructure or people is difficult to guess, said Drennan. “Who’s to say, that’s all speculative.”

Investigators continue to question residents and business owners in the area and pore over footage from SkyTrain stations and Surrey businesses, but have found no leads so far.

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